Who Is A Beat Maker? Who Is A Producer?

They say ignorance is bliss, but in this case it isn’t, because it has cost a lot of artists in the Ugandan music industry. Many times listeners and new artists tend to think every beat-maker is a producer and every producer is a beat-maker.

To some extent it’s true within the context of Hip Hop. In this brief text we are going to look at the real difference between these two parties so that upcoming artists may stop going to raw beat makers for production.

Who is a Beat-Maker?

According to Wikipedia, a beat-maker is a person who makes a beat and hands it over to an artist giving him/her exclusive rights over the beat which means that artist owns the beat.

The beat maker may lease the beat to an artist. This means that the artist is given the right to use the beat but the beat-maker can also sell or lease that same beat to another artist.

In most cases this person has no involvement in an artist’s lyrical composition or arrangement.

The danger associated with an artist taking a beat maker as their producer is that, this person may not offer the kind of advice that will lead to the production of great quality music.

For instance, there are times when you listen to a song and it’s like an artist “skips a beat” (the artist’s tempo is lower than the beat). This is attributed to poor production where an artist gets a beat with a high BPM (Beats Per Minute) than his/her flow (tempo).

This artist used a beat-maker not a producer. Some of these things may not be noticed because that is not the beat-maker’s specialty.

Who is a producer?

A producer is a person who is responsible for the beat evolving into a song or album. When the producer gets a beat, he will look at how the song will be arranged – the vocals, mixing and mastering process.

At times this person is referred to as a recording producer.

In the creation of an album, the producer who knows which song is supposed to appear on the album and how they will be arranged to produce consistency that will enable the listener to enjoy the project.

This person also gives an artist sound advice on which song(s) should be put out as singles. The producer plays a vital role in letting an artist know whether the beat they are using fits their style or not.

NB:

In my introductory paragraph, I said within the context of hip-hop, because generally, the term “hip hop” encompasses all aspects of hip hop music. A hip hop instrumental is casually referred to as a beat, and its composer is casually referred to as a producer or beat-maker.

Conclusion:

In order to put out quality music, it’s important to know the details of music production especially for upcoming artists. An artist has to realize that he has one shot with the listeners. If your music doesn’t make an impression at first listen, it will be hard to get that audience back.